Following the Conquistadores (Volume 2) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III FEOM SULTRY COASTLAND TO CHILLY PAEAMO Our first view of Guayaquil was, in its way, almost as impressive as our first view of the Andes from the island of Puna. As seen under the subdued rays of the rising sun, it was a vision of oriental splendor, not unlike a distant view of Cairo or Damascus. The large, white structures along the Guayas and the imposing churches, also white, whose towers, by a peculiar optical illusion, appeared much loftier than they really were, seemed to be like modern Athens, wrought of Penteliean marble. The city, as thus seen, was a fit companion picture to that of the cloud- piercing Cordilleras at whose foot it so gracefully reposed, and we were quite disposed to exclaim with the Guayaquil poet, Padre Aguirre: "Guayaquil, ciudad hermosa, De la America guirnalda, De tierra bella esmeralda, De la mar perla preciosa.''l In the harbor were several steamers and sailing vessels from many parts of the world, but the most picturesque features were the peculiar craft, everywhere visible, of the Indians and mestizos. These were balsas, of the same type as those that so surprised Pizarro's pilot, Euiz, and his companions on their first arrival in these parts, and certain kinds of rafts that serve the same purpose as a Chinese house-boat.2 All these were loaded with fruitsand other products of the rich lands bordering the Guayas and its affluents. And so great was the abundance of these products offered for sale that it was difficult to imagine where purchasers could be found for half of them. There were bananas of many varieties, juicy pineapples of rarest fragrance, papayas resembling muskmelons in size and appearance, and countless other fruits grateful to the palate, that are found only in the tropics. i "Guayaquil, city beautiful, A...